Colossus Announces Large-Scale 3D Printer for Recycled Plastics

3D Printing Industry was on hand when Colossus, “a machine development startup based in Genk, Belgium,” announced “the largest Fused Granular Fabrication (FGF) 3D printer specifically designed to process recycled materials.”

Colossus’s Co-Founder Philippe Merillet explained the company’s rationale when it came to designing this 3D printer: “clients requested a way to make furniture and other large-scale objects from plastic waste, so we searched the market [for a] large-scale printer and everything we found was either too slow, too expensive, or could not work with high-temperature materials. We decided to develop a printer made for materials.”

The Colossus 3D Printer, which debuted at Formnext, is housed inside a shipping container. It boasts “a build size of 2.67m x 1m x 1.5m (L x W x H) equating to a volume of 4 meters cubed.” Although their 3D printer is large, the team at Colossus assured it was also transportable and modular.

Colossus’s CTO Yannick Aerts added: “we wanted to build a printing system which really adjusts to our customers’ needs, so making it as transportable and upgradeable as possible was a main priority.” Users will be able to adjust the print bed, extruder, and screw types. “This flexibility makes the Colossal 3D FGF highly relevant for various applications and industry sectors.”

“The Colossus FGM 3D printer print supports speeds of up to 15kg per hour from a granulate fed extruder and includes a dehumidification unit for improved print quality. A heated print bed is also featured that allows easy print removal. In partnership with Mitsubishi Chemical, Colossus has successfully tested 10 material compound profiles for optimal performance of FGM system. According to the company, this printer is the first of its scale to use rPET, recycled PET, and rPP, recycled Polypropylene profiles.”

The company is now working to develop a printer capable of faster times. Preorders for the Colossus FGM 3D printer have already begun to be ordered.